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I am hoping someone here can help me out. I have a 2005 X3 with Beige Leatherette interior. One part of the drivers seat is ripped. I went to BMW to find out how much a new covering would cost for the seat bottom and the price was incredibly high - over $500!

Anyone else know of any other solutions? I went to RAYCO, here on Long Island and he can patch it up for me, but using an after market piece of material that matches in color, but not in texture. I would rather NOT do that, if there was another option. Does anyone know of any other resources for the seat wrapping?

Have the same problem with my '06 the "sensatech" seats have begun cracking on the nylon-like part of the seat bolster. Not much can be done unless you want to replace the whole cover with something else, and then it will not match the rest of the car. Perhaps another auto upholsterer can match the fabric. It has been my experience through cars, boats, and motorcycles that a good shop can do wonders with recovering seats. Look around some more. I am going to move up to another car so am not going to bother fixing this, but it is lousy material and BMW should be ashamed of it.

Thanks. This guy at RAYCO really does a fantastic job, but that nylon type of material stinks and he didn't have anything to match it. I am going to keep looking around on line and see if I can find the cover cheaper than what BMW wants for it.

Most places have to special order it from Germany so not much motivation for discounting.

The part no. did change, and you might find that you can only get one that has the newer type material on the side bolsters that is more like the center panel in texture - knobbly.
Won't exactly match the passenger side, but still a better thing to have.

Autowreckers sell leather seat skins separately but don't seem to get into that for the sensatec - not economically viable I suppose, or not too many good sensatec seats in dismantled X3s.

The beige leather is a lighter shade than the beige sensatec, other than looking different in texture and piping, of course.
So that's not a good option.

Less than a couple of years ago it seems you could get the sensatec for about $150 but the price appears to have more than doubled.
Maybe with the change in part no. - not sure.
At one time it seemed the black was easier to get at a reasonable price - possibly because there is more of it, or easier to make.

Well, I wound up finding the seat cover here (https://www.getbmwparts.com/index.cfm)- at about $90 less than what BMW charges. It's still steep, but I really want the car to look good. It is almost 8 years old and it's in fantastic shape, inside and out. I only have 67,000 miles on it and I plan on keeping it for as long as I can.

This guy is charging me $125 to install the new cover. So all in all, about $500 to get the seat repaired with the original material. It's worth it to me, the car really is in excellent shape and I plan on keeping it for a long time.